Empowered

Empowered

Definition: to give power or authority to, authorize, enable

Synonyms: allow, entitle, grant, invest, permit, privilege

Antonyms: refuse, reject, revoke

I have written pages and pages of notes on this emotion. I have asked myself so many questions that it would take me months to answer them all. And then this morning, I opened my eyes, and I stretched every muscle in my body. I reached above my head, twisted this way and that, and I smiled. I empowered my body to move before allowing my mind to think, and I came to this conclusion; writing about positive emotions is supposed to be easy, it is not supposed to be complicated. I focused my energy on the muscles in my face, I smiled wider. I spent a few more minutes concentrating on how my body felt with all of this attention. The empowered feelings were quickly spreading to my brain. I felt wonderful. You see, I have a rule. When I wake up, I get out of bed before I have time to think about how good the bed feels, I then go to the kitchen, make coffee, take a cup, and go outside for a cigarette, (it is not time to discuss smoking yet, we will go there another time) then I go about the yoga business that I call part of my life. The only way to actually do this yoga is to make it part of my daily routine, it requires no thought, my body wakes up once it is conditioned by yoga. I am used to my mind waking my body up, but this morning I did backwards I let my body wake up my mind, and I have to say it did not feel like so much of a struggle to get going. I was feeling empowered because my body felt powerful before I got out of bed. Wow!

Empowering clients is one of the many jobs a counsellor has. In order to live healthy lives we sometimes have to make lasting changes. Sometimes we just have to change, period. There is nothing wrong with seeking help, I mean it is empowering just to be able to admit we need the help in the first place, but ok, let us go in this direction;

So far today I have stretched myself awake, which led to empowering my mind.

I did yoga for an hour which to me there is no better way to feel emotionally and physically empowered.

I packed lunches for my family and gave out hugs and kisses, empowering all of those involved with love.

I complimented a mother at my daughter’s school on her outfit (it really was a great outfit, all classy and matching, and sharp) I empowered her to feel good about herself and empowered myself to continue feeling empowered.

I have been to work and back home again, taken phone calls, returned emails, made beds, loaded the dishwasher, and washed some dishes the old fashioned way. Now I sit with pen in hand, black ink decorating each lined page with thoughts and ideas, questions, and emotions. None of these things I have done today feel like work to me. I am feeling empowered and strong, capable, and willing. Yet someone else having this same experience may not be feeling as I feel. We all have individual experiences and the results at the end of the day depend on how we react to situations and how we choose to feel at any given time. So then, how do you choose to feel at the end of the day? I choose to have no regrets.

Everything is about choice. We really do have a choice. Can you imagine a world in which we empower (allow) ourselves and others to choose. Wow!

Rule One: Empower a stranger with a compliment today, you may be changing a life.

Rule Two: Feeling empowered happens when you allow yourself to believe in who you are and what you do.

I remember a time when I was feeling like my life had no purpose. I spent weeks living my negative thoughts and dull life. I thought of ways out, I stopped thinking about ways in. Then one day I gave myself permission to feel this way for one more day. “Tomorrow everything changes,” I thought. “Tomorrow I start to choose a different way of doing things.” It did not even take me until the next day. Within moments of allowing myself to feel down, negative, and just plain rotten, I was already acting like a positive go getter, who thrives on the feel good emotions I write about. This is why I say; choose to feel positive, but allow yourself to experience every emotion so that your mind and your body knows what to stay away from.

Rule Three: The best way to feel empowered is to first realize that you have the right to choose. Isn’t it empowering just to know that the choice is up to you? Wow!

I do not care what we suffer from; dependency, poor health, mental health, a life threatening illness, how you live the remainder of your days are up to you and nobody else. This is empowering. The choice to feel happy, joyful, successful, and empowered, is yours. Wow!

Rule Four: Allow others to be themselves with you. Be yourself with others.

Rule Five: Feeling empowered is up to you. Empowering another person is also up to you.

Are you powerful enough to help empower others? You are! I knew you were! You really are a wonderful being!

Rule Six: What do you have a positive experience? Just do it, just feel it, and just live it!

Open Hearted

Open Hearted

Definition: Frank

Synonyms: candid, direct, honest, open, sincere, straightforward, truthful, kind

Antonyms: greedy, mean, ungenerous, deceptive, dishonest, lying

Someone once told me that they believed children are born greedy. That it is up us to change them. I hope she has changed her opinions because I happen to be in total disagreement. I believe that children are taught greed, and guess what? I also believe that we teach them this emotion by showing them how important “more” is to us, and in our demonstrations of how wanting more and more” is acceptable. Greed is an emotion children learn along their life paths. We are born as open hearted beings. I choose to believe that we are mostly open hearted individuals. I believe that sometimes it is a good thing to wear your heart on your sleeve. Doesn`t this make you vulnerable you ask¿ Maybe, but being vulnerable isn’t always a bad thing. I mean, don’t you want to be vulnerable sometimes, I do. I want to be vulnerable when it comes to positivity. So what does it take to experience feelings of open heartedness every day? What are the benefits of this emotion? Are there any downfalls, like vulnerability for example¿?

Can you imagine yourself as a deceptive, dishonest person who lies to get their way and is generally mean? Has being mean become a way of life for you? I cannot imagine myself like this. I will never let the devil in me win. And it is true that we all have a devil inside, but does he/she deserve to control our thoughts and our lives? No!

Being open hearted comes natural to us. I choose to believe this as well. I come across many people who are always pointing out the imperfections in others. Why do they talk like this I ask myself? They do this so that they may feel a little more perfect themselves. There openness however, is not coming from the heart. This frankness is insecurity and comes from a place of fear. In order to truly be open hearted we must first be honest with ourselves and we must ask ourselves, “Why do we do the things we do? Why do we choose certain ways of talking to others, at others?” When we have some answers it is then up to us to be open enough to deal with our truth and lay our devil to rest. The devil in us should not be ahead, our open heartedness deserves to take the lead. That needy, greedy devil does not believe in open hearts, he feeds off fear, and fear as we know it does not our hearts open.

I believe that I am an open hearted person. I give freely, (ok, ok sometimes I do the poor me thing especially when I feel like I am being taken for granted, but again I am human, and sometimes the devil in takes over temporarily)I believe in honesty, honestly I do, and I am frank with myself and my emotions. When I am having an open hearted moment I find myself living open hearted experiences. I feel close to something larger than myself, I call this largeness God. Here is an example of what is possible when you carry open hearted feelings on your sleeve:

One day, last summer, I was really missing my dad. Anyone who has had a beloved pass away will know how these feelings of loss can steal your positive emotions and leave you faithless, angry, and no longer hoping. One day I asked God for a sign, “Yes,” I said, “it is me again, asking again, God. I am sorry for my lack of faith but please give me a sign. Let me know that my dad hears me when I speak to him. Let me know that there is more.” When my dad passed away I had already pleaded with God and signs always came in the form of butterflies. I have had extraordinary things happen, that to me prove, there is something more, something larger, something much more beautiful than the grandest sight on earth. I forgot about my pleas to God quickly this time, and one day while I was out for a walk with my daughter and the puppy, something happened that would once again have me believing that my dad was indeed watching over me. We came to a tree down the street where a slight movement in the branch caught my eye. I called my daughter over to have a look at the Monarch butterfly sitting on the leave. As I pointed out the sight to my very open hearted little girl I remembered asking God weeks earlier to show me something amazing. As I thought about this, we watched this glorious creature fly off the branch and straight onto my forearm. I was speechless. My daughter’s eyes widened in amazement. The puppy sat still. As the butterfly attached itself to my arm I said, “This is grandpa. I just know it is grandpa,” and I told my daughter what I had asked God for. She smiled, “I believe it is grandpa, mommy,” she said. I said hello to the butterfly as if I were talking to my dad himself and at that moment the butterfly turned on my arm to face me. I wanted to cry, but the smile on my face would not give way to tears. At last I tried to shake the butterfly loose, telling it to fly on home. Holding my daughter tight I gave thanks and said good-bye to my dad again. Well, the butterfly would not go. I had to physically remove it and send it flying. Eyes locked on me this butterfly had a message. It wanted me to know that my prayers had been answered. I know that we all have miracles to share. Most of us are open hearted enough to see these miracles daily, but many of us are so caught up in the negative feelings that dare to drown us that we do not allow ourselves to see the proof God sends us. Do you notice how God did not answer my prayers immediately? He waited until my heart was open, until I was out walking, thinking only about the steps I was taking, before he showed me what I wanted to see. Then again, maybe he had already tried to answer my prayer, but maybe my heart was not open enough to see. Imagine what we may be missing¿

Rule One: Open your heart to possibilities. Live your life as if anything were possible.

Rule Two: Give from the heart. This means you expect nothing in return.

Rule Three: Be open hearted with yourself and the hearts of others will open for you.

I believe in goodness. I choose to feel open hearted, for in so doing, my life opens like a book and the story is worth living. I do not want to miss the miracles around me. I want to be open to seeing a miracle every day. I do not want to miss all of the butterflies in my life. I want one to sit on my arm, right next to my vulnerable heart.

Rule Four: It is not easy to feel open hearted at all times. We tend to think selfishly. In order to live with positive emotions, especially open hearted ones, we must first experience its negative form then we will know what to stay away from.

Rule Five: Open hearted people believe in kindness and are honest with themselves.